


unplugged

by v0ltaire



Series: Aparkalypse [5]
Category: Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Fantasy, Gen, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 15:12:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19428553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v0ltaire/pseuds/v0ltaire
Summary: geoff is a weird forest creature and awsten wants to be his friend that’s it





	unplugged

unignorable, obnoxious, bright big eyes.  
geoff couldn’t look away, even though it was probably dangerous.  
the thing about them was… they seemed scared and curious all at once.  
the gaze hadn’t spotted him, he was relieved, people only ever met him with fear.  
it hurt, but he was used to it, he had to be.  
the figure on the other side of the clearing looked to be picking plants, for what?  
geoff could try his luck and ask, but he was understandably hesitant.  
few people wandered this far into the forest, and truthfully he was more scared of them most of the time, but that didn’t seem to translate or make a difference.  
he shook his head, lost in thought he’d misplaced the figure, where did those eyes go?

W

“Hello?,” Awsten called out, he could sense the presence of another as far back as a mile but he figured it would pass.

The bushes rustled, and he stopped himself from shuddering.

“Faunus,” he muttered, under his breath.

W  
“Faunus.”  
that’s not…

W

Awsten smirked to himself, his basket was full of black berries, plenty for the pie this evening, but he thought he might tease the creature. 

“Hey,” he called, loud as he could.

This time the wind spoke back with the rustle of the trees, but no creature. He frowned, dissatisfied.

“I know you’re there, hoof-breath, come out.”, he turned to scale the clearing ahead of him. 

The sun was high, he still had some time before he had to be home. 

A shadow in his periphery caught his eye, and he turned quickly, the creature was definitely spying on him. Awsten dropped the basket, and bolted after the thing as fast as his legs would carry him. He heard a quiet gasp of surprise and a scuffle into the denser cluster of trees around them. He paused for a moment, to catch his breath and listen. If a chase was what this thing wanted, he could deliver. 

He could just barely make out the sound of breathing from not far away, and he braced his back leg to lunge should he need to. The creature made the mistake of peeking around a rather wide tree almost directly in front of Awsten.

He laughed and circled around the tree, thrusting his arms on either side of his target’s shoulders. It squirmed, and could probably take him should it choose to, as it was taller than him. Awsten huffed, staring into the creature’s face, it was human. Or, human looking.

“What are you?”, Awsten asked, easing up on his grip and standing back.

The creature startled, made to go, but Awsten stomped forward threateningly.

“What are you?”, the creature countered.

Awsten gave him an annoyed look, “A human being from human land on planet human, population humans. Now, what are you?”

“I thought you already knew,” the creature looked away.

“Yeah, but humour me. I could be wrong, it’s happened before… once.”, Awsten shrugged.

“I’m a curse,” it said vaguely, “I don’t know how else to put it, but I can’t leave these woods. I could've been human. I have few memories from my past life, I’ve been here a long time.”

“You know what year it is?”, Awsten asked, so this thing wasn’t a faun, but he decided not to acknowledge it.

“Last time I heard it was 1746.”, the curse smiled in what looked like humor, but there was sadness there.

Awsten’s eyes bugged in surprise, “Whoa, uh no. It’s 2014.”, he laughed.

The creature wheezed, like this news physically hurt. “Are you sure?”, it asked.

Awsten nodded sympathetically, “Yeah.”

“So are you like,” Awsten gestured at the creature’s chest, “a ghost or something? What’s your name?”

“Geoff, and also no, I’m not exactly a ghost but I don’t eat or sleep either.”, Geoff explained, his lower half was in fact reminiscent of a faun like creature, but his tail was long and he bore no horns.

“This is totally bizarre,” Awsten frowned at the guy, “I’ve been coming here since I was a kid cos surrounding forests are infested with fae and I had no idea you were here. I just assumed you were like, a green guy.”

“Green man,” Geoff corrected, “And I know the Pan personally, he doesn’t come around here much except to remind me sometimes that I’m stuck here for eternity.”

“Oh,” Awsten nodded, “Sounds like a total asshole.”

“Pete has his moments,” Geoff shook his head with humour. 

“Well, cool.”, Awsten said, “I should probably go. But, like, maybe I’ll be back? It probably gets lonely here, what with the not sleeping.”

Geoff seemed distracted but lit up at that, “Oh, yes. That’d be nice, thanks. I like company.”

They shared a smile, and a promise and then Awsten was gone.

W

content, nervous, vibrating with waiting, anticipation for their next meeting

geoff thought, perhaps he’d made a friend


End file.
